It is a straight fight between LDF, UDF in Nilambur, says Congress
The Congress-led United Democratic Front's (UDF) sidestepped questions about the purported political fallout from All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) State coordinator P.V. Anvar's decision to plough his own furrow in the Nilambur Assembly byelection and stressed the impending ballot box battle was solely between the ruling front and the Opposition.
Inaugurating the UDF's election convention in Nilambur on Monday, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal said belated entrants into the electoral fray, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were not a factor in the crucial bypoll.
Mr. Venugopal said the BJP's indecision over fielding a candidate and cobbling together a campaign spearheaded by a political lightweight poached from another party at the last minute smacked of a sly attempt to stack the decks in favour of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Nilambur.
'I sense a replay of the CPI(M)-BJP nexus that gifted the NDA the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat in 2024,' he said.
Mr. Venugopal said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said a 'betrayal' precipitated the Nilambur bypoll. He said Mr. Vijayan had betrayed Nilambur which gave the LDF two terms by demonising the Malappuram electorate as gold smugglers, hawala agents and economic offenders who fund anti-national activities. Mr. Vijayan forgot the brave martyrs of Malappuram who died fighting the colonial forces.
Mr. Venugopal alleged that Mr. Vijayan had accused the IUML leadership of harbouring fundamentalist forces, forgetting that the Thangal family had played a vital role in promoting communal harmony during tense times, including the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He accused Mr. Vijayan of deliberately avoiding the site of the NH-66 collapse in Malappuram to avoid offending the BJP-led Central government.
'The Chief Minister has not uttered a word against the entrenched corruption in the construction of highways in Kerala, pussyfooting around the issue to avoid offending the powers that be at the centre and claiming credit for the scheme through embellished social media reels,' he said.
Mr. Venugopal termed the Nilambur bypoll as the semi-finals before the 2026 Assembly polls. The AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala, Deepa Dasmunshi, said the bypoll was more of a quarter final. 'We have the local body polls and then the Assembly polls', she said.
Ms. Dasmunshi seemed seeking to dampen speculation that the IUML was upset over Congress shutting the door on TMC leader P.V. Anvar and provoking the latter to throw his hat into the ring. 'The UDF stands as one,' she said.
The LDF campaign sought to make much of the fact that most of the Thangal family, including IUML president Syed Sadikali Shihab Thangal, had not attended the UDF election convention.
IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty said Mr. Thangal had rung him from Makkah, where the latter had gone for Haj, to enquire about the rally and other political developments.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and KPCC president Sunny Joseph, MLA, also spoke.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
15 minutes ago
- Hans India
Law and order collapsing in coast under Cong rule, warns BJP chief
Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra has issued a stern warning to the Congress government, accusing it of fostering lawlessness in the coastal districts, especially in Dakshina Kannada. Speaking to the media today outside his residence, Vijayendra said the government's inaction and selective policing were pushing the region into chaos. He condemned what he called 'police-sponsored hooliganism', warning that the BJP would not remain silent if the government continued to use the police to suppress dissent and target Hindu activists. 'This government is running like a Tughlaq Darbar under Siddaramaiah's leadership. They are reviving a feudal-style administration instead of upholding democracy,' Vijayendra said. Vijayendra revealed that he had already discussed the deteriorating situation in the state with senior national BJP leaders last night. 'Today, our MPs and MLAs will meet senior police officials to raise these serious concerns,' he added. Referring to recent banishment orders (gudipaaru) issued to several individuals in Dakshina Kannada, he questioned the intent and transparency behind the police actions. Drawing a sharp analogy, he said, 'Kings and paleyagars (feudal lords) once ruled India, and it feels like the Congress is trying to bring that system back.' Referring to the recent murder of BJP youth activist Suhas Shetty, Vijayendra alleged that Congress leaders deliberately avoided visiting his family. He further accused the government of downplaying the role of women seen aiding the accused killers escape—a fact, he said, was captured by news channels but ignored by the police. Why haven't those women been arrested yet? Why is the government silent?' he demanded. He charged the government with targeting Sangh Parivar leaders, saying that FIRs were being filed against Hindu leaders and activists to intimidate them. 'This is not law and order. This is political vendetta,' Vijayendra thundered. Highlighting alleged police excesses, he claimed that BJP and Sangh Parivar workers were being harassed with midnight raids and questioning at their homes, creating an atmosphere of fear. 'Where are we living? Is this a democracy or dictatorship?' he questioned. Vijayendra also criticized the government for failing on development fronts, arguing that the Congress was attempting to distract from its failures by creating communal tensions and suppressing dissent. 'While the public is angry over the lack of development, the government is busy covering up its failures by hounding Hindu activists. This is nothing but a political conspiracy,' he said. The BJP's state unit has made it clear that it will intensify its agitation if the Congress government continues to, as Vijayendra said, 'use the police to wage a political war.' The statement marks an escalation in the BJP's attack on the ruling Congress amid growing law and order concerns in Karnataka's coastal belt.
Scroll.in
16 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
Government employee arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan, says Rajasthan Police
The Rajasthan Police on Tuesday said that a state government employee, who was earlier detained on suspicion of spying for Pakistan, has been arrested, PTI reported. Shakur Khan, an assistant administrative officer at the district employment office in Jaisalmer, had been detained on May 28 for allegedly passing sensitive information to his handlers in Pakistan, The Hindu reported. He had been under surveillance for suspicious activities prior to his arrest, according to PTI. On Tuesday, Inspector General of Police (Security) Vishnu Kant Gupta alleged that Khan had been in regular contact with persons linked to the Pakistani High Commission, particularly two men identified as Ahsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish and Sohail Qamar, The Hindu reported. In May, Danish was declared persona non-grata by New Delhi and was asked to leave India. In diplomatic parlance, an official declared persona non-grata is deemed unwelcome by the host country. 'Khan was taken into custody for questioning a few days ago and was interrogated extensively at the central interrogation facility in Jaipur by multiple intelligence agencies,' PTI quoted Gupta as saying. He claimed that Khan obtained Pakistani visas on several occasions and travelled to Pakistan with Danish's assistance without reporting it to Indian authorities. He came in contact with agents from the Inter-Service Intelligence, Islamabad's intelligence agency, during his time in Pakistan, Gupta said. 'He [Khan] collected sensitive information after returning to India and transmitted it to his Pakistani handlers through WhatsApp and other social media platforms,' The Hindu quoted the inspector general of police as saying. Gupta added that a case was registered under the Official Secrets Act since the matter constituted a serious security breach and Khan was arrested, according to the newspaper. A court in Jaipur remanded him to police custody for seven days. Khan, who hails from Badoda Gaon village in Jaisalmer district, had earlier served as a personal assistant to former minister Saleh Mohammed during the previous Congress government in the state, The Hindu reported. Following his detention on May 28, Khan's links to Mohammed had led to a political row. However, Congress leader Govind Singh Dotasra said that being a personal assistant to a minister did not constitute a valid ground to implicate Mohammed. 'We have nothing to do with any criminal or anti-national activity,' The Hindu quoted Dotasra as having said. 'If the police have received some inputs, they should investigate and take action against the accused.' Khan's arrest came amid heightened military tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad that escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22. Over the past few weeks, at least 16 persons have been arrested across the country on allegations of spying for Pakistan and leaking sensitive information about Operation Sindoor.
Time of India
20 minutes ago
- Time of India
PM, EAM 'totally quiet ' on Indian students being affected badly by Trump's actions: Congress
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Expressing concern over the US' decisions affecting foreign students, the Congress on Wednesday said China has reacted strongly regarding their students but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar have remained "totally quiet" on how Indian students are being affected by the general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh pointed out that according to the Ministry of External Affairs, approximately 3,37,630 Indian students went to the USA for higher studies in 2024 and about a third of the foreign students on American campuses are from means that some three-and-a-half lakh Indian families invested their hard-earned savings or borrowed for the education of their children in the US, he said."These students, plus those who went in earlier years, face an uncertain future. Large numbers of students planning to go in 2025 may never get to see their aspirations fulfilled," Ramesh said on X."President Trump has made his intentions clear. China has reacted strongly regarding Chinese students. But not surprisingly, our PM and EAM have kept totally quiet," he said."They are completely silent on President Trump's claims on having Operation Sindoor stopped after just four days and they have not said a word of concern on how Indian students and their families are being affected badly by President Trump's actions," Ramesh said, slamming the last Thursday said it expects the US to consider visa applications of Indian students on merit amid growing concerns over the Trump administration halting new student visa changes effected by the US in its visa regime have triggered widespread uncertainty among students world-wide, including in have been concerns among the students planning to pursue studies in the US over the Trump administration's plan to expand social media vetting of student visa applicants.
